Google's plan to block some ads has ad-tech companies scrambling — and calling it a dictator

Google's Chrome browser will automatically block
certain ad formats, and that's causing ad tech companies to
scramble.The startup Parsec says it is completely shifting its
business because of Google.Google says its actions are based on the
recommendations of the Coalition For Better Ads, a
cross-industry group focused on stemming the rise of
ad-blockingYet many in the digital ad industry aren't clear on
when these changes will take hold, what they need to do to
prepare and who's driving them.

Parsec, a three-year old startup, had found its niche. The
company designed ads that people have to move out of the way with
their finger order to keep reading a story on their mobile phone.
The unique approach meant users would be required to a degree to
interact with an ad, instead of just letting it slip past as they
read a story or click through a slideshow. The rough idea was
that people would be more likely to stop and notice these ads,
and ideally, they'd spend more time with them than the average
banner.

Starting next year, when Google rolls out the
latest version of its Chrome browser, those ads will be
automatically blocked. It's not just them. Also blocked are ads
that automatically start blaring sound, and others like these
that Google says make the experience of browsing the web
worse.
So Parsec is scrambling to ditch the old ad unit entirely - which
means getting publishers, advertisers, and other business
partners to run an entirely different, Chrome-approved, ad unit.

Here are the old Parsec ads:

Ad

Guldimann acknowledges that the company was always going to have
to move away from ads that force interaction.
But his complaint is that Google is using its
massive power in the digital ad ecosystem, to play judge,
jury, and executioner of ad-tech companies. He's not clear, he
says, on how Google made the decision it did or when and how
it'll be implemented.

"Right now, they are a benevolent dictator," he said. "Let's not
joke ourselves. They own the browser. We're playing in their
world. They set the rules."

caption

These Parsec ads will start getting blocked next year

source

Daily Beast

Parsec isn't alone in facing a sudden shift from a tech platform.
Publishers too - especially those that had loaded up their sites
with lots of videos that play automatically with sound- have to
work out what the new Chrome restrictions will mean.
Yet as the industry grapples with how to adapt to the coming
changes next year, there's loads of confusion over who is in
charge, how the annoying ads will be identified and what the
timeframe is for compliance. It all points to an uncomfortable
position for Google, which is both a massive ad sales entity and
the provider of the
web's most popular browser in the U.S.

Google says its just following the lead of the Coalition for Better Ads, a
consortium of ad industry trade groups and big tech and media
companies formed in September of last year.

The Coalition says it has conducted proprietary research on
over 100 types
of digital ads graded by 25,000 consumer respondents in the
U.S. and Europe. That's how it came up with dozen ad types that
consumers find 'annoying' and that publishers should avoid.
The list
includes video ads that
play automatically with sound and ads the cover more than a
third of a person's screen, for example.

It also includes "Full-Screen Scrollover ads," or ads that "force
a user to scroll through an ad that appears on top of content."
In other words, exactly the kind of ads Parsec bet the company
on.

Google says with the
coming Chrome update it's just providing the hammer that the
industry can use to apply these recommendations in one fell
swoop.
" Thanks to the Better Ads Standards, the ad industry has 12 ad
experiences that we know annoy Internet users and encourage
people to opt out of ads entirely," said a Google spokesperson."
Chrome has a long history of protecting users from annoying or
harmful experiences. For example, like other browsers, Chrome
blocks pop-ups in new tabs and shows warnings before malware
pages. "

'Uncomfortable'

Given the rise in
popularity of ad blockers, it's clear that digital
advertising needs to clean up its act. Many ad insiders, though,
aren't wild about Google deciding what ads are ok and which are
not.

In fact, several executives told Business Insider they are of the
belief that Google is the driving force behind the Coalition, and
that it is funding and dictating the effort. They speak as if the
Coalition is Google.

Both Google and the Coalition say this is not the case.

Parsec is moving forward with new ads that the company hopes
combine consumer interruption with consumer respect. Guldimann
estimates the company is about halfway through its transition to
Chrome friendly ads.

The new Parsec ads:

"This has been an impetus for where we want to be as a company,"
he said. "There's just been a lack of transparency on how we got
here."